FREE PLATFORM FOR APPLICATION PLAYING, GAMES, OPEN SOURCE FIRST-HAND PROGRAMMING IN G15 PMN, AND FOR G15 PMN FCM OPEN ROBOTICS ==========================> W E L C O M E * * * * * ! This infotext is 015setup.txt inside theg15ways.zip **** FLAWLESS PERFORMANCE WITH 64BIT WAYLAND LINUX **** JUST BE ABSOLUTELY SURE IT IS A WAYLAND LINUX {this is something Ubuntu 17.10 started with even though in 18.04 they are 'wavering-'-see below in this text how to check if it's Wayland on your PC} Here you get, for any standard 64bit Linux w/Wayland: g15pmn To run all G15 PMN standard apps incl games In Linux 32b, similar is y6.zip and y6all.zip g15rworks This in addition runs G15 PMN FCM robots To use this, see setup instructions "CONFIGURING ROBOAPPS TO INTERACT WITH ROBOHARDWARE" beneath, together with: genifun.com/openrobotics In MsWindows, a somewhat similar form is: g15robot g15rstart As g15rworks, but with autostart of your fav app g15rmenu As g15rworks, but with autostart of the h:1 menu ramg15rworks As g15rworks but huge ram use enabled In MsWindows, a somewhat similar form is: g15rbotx ramg15rstart As g15rstart but huge ram use enabled ramg15rmenu As G15rmenu but huge ram use enabled They are installed by a simple unzipping and with a few typed commands you get graphical startup icons eg for Ubuntu. Only library required is SDL2. For each flavour you also get a "..x" form for "game mouse" mode. Website locations where this .zip is listed include: genifun.com/openrobotics norskesites.org/fic3 norskesites.org/fic3/fic3inf3.htm Release date for theg15ways.zip: MARCH 29 2018. IN CASE OF ANY SMALL NECESSARY UPDATES TO THIS TEXT IT WILL BE NOTED HERE WITH AN EXTRA DATE. [[[This text has been edited many times so there may be a couple of contradictions or spelling issues.]]] BIG UPDATES TO THE INSTALLATION PROCEDURE AND/OR CONTENT FILES WILL BE RELEASED IN A SEPARATE .zip PACKAGE LISTED ALONGSIDE theg15ways.zip ON THE WEBSITES. Questions about install or about G15 PMN programming to Stein Reusch Weber srw at avenuege dot com. The G15 PMN runnable minimalist core is freeware but closed source; all else about G15 PMN is open source; all can be used freely in all respectable contexts given acknowledgements; G15 PMN is created by SRW {other artistic names include Aristo Tacoma, ATWLAH} as a prolongation of his Firth from 2006 and with G15 cpu design completed in 2012 and G15 PMN platform totally finalized in 2015 after which all focus is on app development including FCM as a coherent approach to robotic programming without the false pretension of AI. =*= WELCOME TO THEG15WAYS! G15 PMN RUNNING ON TOP OF ANY STANDARD LINUX 64BIT SDL2 DESKTOP WITH WAYLAND FULLY STANDARD YOGA6DORG G15 PMN PLATFORM: G15 PMN for desktop applications, for G15 PMN games, for educational and professional G15 PMN robotic apps, and larger technical emulators and more, for a typical 64-bit GNU/Linux with a Wayland platform A much fuller set of introduction texts to G15 PMN is found in the original 32-bit Linux package y6.zip. But with this text, 015setup.txt, and with the information at the websites, you get a pretty good intro--and much more updated. So, this is the setup text within theg15ways.zip as eg at norskesites.org/theg15ways.zip and at genifun.com/theg15ways.zip It is a stable package. For tiny but necessary changes, they will be included here with a clear date in the lines connected to the date given above for the release of THEG15WAYS. =================================================== THE SUPER-SURE WAY TO ESTABLISH WHETHER WAYLAND IS THAT WHICH A LINUX PC IS RUNNING NOW: First, is the Linux a Wayland linux? In a local user Terminal, type env | grep -i wayland and if some text comes up then, Wayland Linux does seem to be what is running. Note again that this command only makes full sense if you type it inside the Local user mode, which is the standard mode that the program Terminal starts when you start it from some typical menu, e.g. by searching for Applications, or, maybe ALT-CTR-T does work to bring it up. Wayland is much more elegant than Xorg, but Ubuntu {as 18.04} in its .04 versions are more careful to go for Wayland until all programs have been updated to Wayland. NOTE: Click the 'settings wheel' before you type your password on the login screen to see if Wayland is mentioned there, then select that. If you have Ubuntu then in some versions one can log in with settings near the login name set to "Ubuntu at Xorg" or with "Ubuntu". In such a case, "Ubuntu" means "Ubuntu with Wayland". More about this at askubuntu.com and there are other 'bleeding edge' linuxes like Fedora with Wayland. Use other .zips at our webpages in case you have X.org type of Linux, see installation instructions for this in footnote #1 at genifun.com/openrobotics NOTE: THE SCREENCARD YOU HAVE MUST PERFECTLY CENTER THE WAYLAND FULLSCREEN MODE G15 PMN FOR THIS TO WORK. If there is some kind of modified Wayland, it may not work and then you should get SDL1.2 to work with y6.zip and, if you like, g15control.zip added to it to give run roboapps like here. But be sure: when you have a standard Wayland and a standard screencard for a standard 64-bit Linux, this works wonderfully well! And this is the approach we strongly advise. =================================================== If there are big changes required to get it to run on the most modern Linuxes in the future, there will be a separate .zip package listed beside this .zip package on all the relevant webpages. While we expect that 32-bit Linux {and Firth} and also the MsWindows flavours of G15 PMN continue to be used, a long-term perspective seems to be that higher-than- 32-bit Linuxes in tune with standards can become the most common way for all sorts of professional programming and so also for G15 PMN {in addition to the hardware made for G15 PMN in particular}. (The platforms chiefly made to serve the data acquisition purposes of an advertising/phone oriented computer company do not seem to be nearly as interesting in the long term as the neutral Personal Computer open source Linux platforms.) This is text 015setup.txt inside theg15ways.zip. For intro to G15 PMN check out such as genifun.com/openrobotics norskesites.org/fic3 norskesites.org/fic3/fic3inf3.htm and other links also from yoga6d.org/look.htm Let's be clear G15 PMN is for that delicious concept called a Personal Computer. And that has a comfortable large keyboard with F1 .. F12 keys and something not too far removed from US English standard setup, it has a mouse pointer device, and a screen capable of showing 1024 x 768 beautiful monochrome green graphics chiefly in fullscreen. So, next is all info necessary to get standard G15 PMN in a lot of flavours suitable also for robots to work flawlessly and effortlessly--at least if you are okay with typing in a couple of linux commands in standard enough 64-bit Linuxes such as Ubuntu using Wayland and SDL2. Those who use such as Archlinux, Fedora or Opensus typically know how to adjust things to fit their Linux, and it should be really easy in the case of G15 PMN: in these cases, be prepared for some changes of which folders to use to installing it graphically, and for some changes of the .desktop files. In case of there being major changes to the vaguely Debian w/ wayland as in Ubuntu 64-bit standards we have assumed in this text, we will either provide an added note right here, inside this text, about how to handle those, or we will provide a separate .zip beside the location of theg15ways.zip as it is found on norskesites.org/fic3, genifun.com/openrobotics, norskesites.org/fic3inf3.htm and such pages; these also have the y6.zip and the other .zips such as for Microsoft Windows. In a hurry to get G15 PMN to run in your Linux? {The rest of the intro text is after this quick setup list} =========================================================== Step 1: unzip g15theways.zip directly in your local user area, where you have read-write access and access to run graphics. This creates the folder ~/g15theways Step 2: to access pixels of monitor and to access mouse and keyboard the G15 PMN in Linux 64bit w/wayland uses the free, open, much-used SDL2 library. So open a Terminal and check whether you have it already: sudo apt install libsdl2-2.0 and if need be confirm installation by 'Y'. You can type libsdl2-dev instead for somewhat larger library set. {{{If at some point in the future neither of these two work even after you have checked that you have internet connection and all software updates installed, and you have a standard enough Linux, then it may mean that the by finalized SDL2 library somehow has got out of the distribution flow. This means that you should consult our website for an update of the installation; or search on the net for what to do when SDL2 isn't available. It may mean that it is required that one moves up to a higher main version number of SDL and it may also mean that an updated form of the theg15ways.zip is required at that stage. Let us however be very clear: The SDL 1.2.n was a standard for many years; SDL 2.0.n is likely to be a standard for probably even more years.}}} {To open a Terminal you can search it up by that name, "terminal", or you can, in many linuxes, click ctr-alt-t} Step 3: Ready! In that same Terminal, Go into that theg15ways folder and run it! Eg: cd ~/theg15ways ./g15pmn Wanna try a game? App# 1010101 Texasstars is included! Type, inside G15 PMN: mnt 1 1010101 with a lineshift after "mnt" and after "1010101". Then click CTR-W and click on the arrow inside the F/1 startup place, and good luck. You might also want to try the version that has a socalled "game mouse mode", like this: ./g15pmnx The difference is subtle but there's a slightly more "gliding" approach to how the mouse is read in these "..x" flavours of G15 PMN, which typically suits games better. Step 4. Having checked that it works, exit whatever G15 PMN program you're running, then press CTR-Q and type REB to exit the G15 PMN operating platform. The next steps could be ADDING CLICKABLE ICONS {a few paragraphs ahead} and then possibly also AUTOSTART AT BOOTUP. In this package, theg15ways.zip, is the game you perhaps just tried, and also the Third Foundation app, app# 3,333,333, including its summary of physics both for B9edit and as .pdf printout. {For how to start up programs once inside, and how to quit again, and how to use the keyboard and the mouse, see the footnotes of this text.} The G15 PMN approach to computing is DIFFERENT than all other approaches to computing we've seen--in the world. And it works wonderfully well, it is a coherent world of programming, organising data etc. It is its own operating approach, can be run straight on electronics tailormade to run it. The startup screen blinks and switches for an instant between frame and fullscreen mode during every startup also to TELL the interactor that this is a world on its own--besides being a most excellent way to clear the display structures and blaze a trail for the G15 PMN performances to come. For some people, to know about the cd theg15ways ./g15pmn is all they want: they like starting things by text, and for now, they only want the standard G15 PMN. But if you want robotic G15 PMN apps to run, and/or graphical ways of starting it, autostarting etc, read on! ========================================= * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ========================================= However, let's show how to start it by means of a graphical icon here and there as well, and then also let's talk about the other main flavours as included here. [[[By the way: If the content .zip file has been moved about and somehow the permissions for the program to run as program aren't there, just type cd ~/theg15ways chmod 755 g15pmn chmod 755 *.desktop and try again. It should work, if you have a standard enough Linux and a standard enough screencard, in which the resulting fullscreen is centered on the screen. In case you had to do a chmod 755 with g15pmn be sure you do it with the other flavours you are going to use.]]] ADDING CLICKABLE STARTUP ICONS FOR G15 PMN ========================================== [[[The following stuff--the lazy luxurious approach of getting the program listed on the favourites list with an icon--works fine in all present linuxes of the type we've tried this on. For much later versions of Linux, be prepared to search it up here and there how to do such a thing, in case it doesn't work.]]] Do you want to have this or any other of them added to favourites, in the launcher menu? Or at the desktop? This can vary a lot from Linux to Linux, and standards even in one Linux like Ubuntu can change; and help-programs can also change. This works in Ubuntu 17.10 and check with askubuntu.com if in a later version it has changed and this .zip hasn't been updated with new info (however some programs that purport to do something similar only works with earlier versions of Ubuntu): ***TO GET IT ON THE DESKTOP AS AN ICON: Get the icon in place. The icon is called zero-one-five-icon dot jpg. So, in a terminal, type: cd ~/theg15ways sudo cp 015icon.jpg /usr/share/icons Copy the launcher script to the Desktop folder: cp g15pmn.desktop ~/Desktop Then double-click on what appears on the Desktop and confirm it's okay and then the icon will appear and the program will launch! NOTE: FOR SOME LINUXES, THE LAST LINE IN EACH .desktop TEXT MAY HAVE TO BE EDITED-- JUST CHECK OUT OTHER .desktop TEXTS IN YOUR LINUX, WHEN THEY RELATE TO A TERMINAL STARTUP, AND EDIT IT TO SOMETHING SIMILAR. ***TO GET IT TO THE FAVOURITES MENU BAR: Get the icon in place, if you haven't already done so (see above, about /usr/share/icons). Copy the launcher script to 'applications', which should exist (if not, it's a different Linux somehow, try then such as /usr/local/share/applications or the same without the word 'share'). Be sure to get the dot in before the word "local" in the next line: cd ~/.local/share/applications cp ~/theg15ways/g15pmn.desktop . Finally, click the windows-key, also called the "super"-key, and type in the name of the program in the search field that comes up for available programs. Type G15 PMN and, indeed, thanks to what we just did, G15 PMN should appear as a suggestion, with icon and all. Right-click over this and select "add to favourites" or whatever the text is. That's it! ARE YOU ABOUT TO USE G15 PMN AS PART OF A ROBOTIC SETUP? FINE--THEN YOU LOOK AHEAD IN THIS TEXT AT FLAVOURS SUCH AS g15rworks AND g15rstart AND g15rmenu AND IN ADDITION LOOK AT THE PARAGRAPH {AHEAD} FOR ENABLING /dev/ttyUSB0 FOR RS232 MOTOR CONTROL. [[[In case you have a different Linux, you have the nuts and bolts in the above commands and the tiny launcher .desktop text file to tweak it to work there. I think that is a better approach than to bundle it all in one big ready-made script that only works for some versions of Linux.]]] [[[In some linuxes a reboot or a command like sudo update-desktop-database will be necessary to refresh the Desktop view after such changes, but normally it should work straight away.]]] [[[As said: In case there is a chmod 755 to be done on the g15pmn above you should also do it on the g15pmn.desktop and indeed so for every flavour of G15 PMN here included.]]] HOW TO GET G15 PMN TO AUTOSTART ON BOOTUP, EG WITH G15 PMN'S "G15RSTART" FOR ROBOT CONTROL ==================================================== The ./g15rstart flavour, which is referred to by the tiny icon script g15rstart.desktop, autostarts a G15 PMN program at card F1. YOU MUST PUT THIS STARTUP PROGRAM THERE YOURSELF. The ./g15rmenu flavour autostarts the G15 PMN menu at card H1. So, these you set up yourself, eg by copying from a G15 PMN roboapp or another app. Just be sure--this is obvious, but it doesn't harm to point it out--that you have tested the program through and through before you make the machine autostart with it. Only experiment with autostarts after you have backuped all important files on the PC to somewhere outside of it. Having said as much, it must be said that a good GNU/Linux like Ubuntu works excellently with autostarts, and many professional appliances that do have much of a PC inside them somehow do use just that combination. Before you do this, make use of the relevant .desktop file by putting it as icon to the Desktop or to the Menu bar ("favourites"). In that way, you check that its content matches your PC perfectly, before you make the PC autostart it after logging into Linux. The first time you try this, you should probably try it with G15 PMN in its standard form, the g15pmn.desktop rather than the g15rstart.desktop. Here's how: ***TERMINAL METHOD, FOR THE LINUXES TO WHICH THIS APPLIES: cd ~/theg15ways sudo cp g15pmn.desktop /etc/xdg/autostart/ If you wish to remove the G15 startups, confirm by Y each that comes up: sudo rm /etc/xdg/autostart/g15*.desktop -i [[[If the autostart doesn't work, then, just to have tried it, make the .desktop file runnable: sudo -i cd /etc/xdg/autostart chmod 755 g15pmn.desktop But normally it should work without this.]]] [[[In case the folder mentioned above doesn't apply for the Linux you are using, search it up somewhere; some Linuxes are using a different startup folder altogether.]]] ***GRAPHICAL METHOD, WHEN THIS APPLIES: Search up the program "Startup Applications" in the dash (which comes up when you eg press the "super" key, the one on the keyboard with windows on it), click "ADD", and in the "Command" field type in this (which is also found inside the relevant g15pmn.desktop file, namely): bash -c "cd ~/theg15ways && ~/theg15ways/g15pmn" This line ensures that the startup folder is known to the Terminal background SH ("bash") program that spurs g15pmn into action. ABOUT THESE TWO METHODS FOR CONFIGURING AUTOSTART: It's best not to mix the two methods. Choose either to add and remove via the Terminal, OR to add and remove via a Graphical program (because the latter may have additional internal directory listings that may override later changes in the former, at least when it concerns the one and the same program). AS YOU PERHAPS ALREADY KNOW.. This starts in FULLSCREEN mode for 1024x768 {must be centered if the monitor is bigger, if not, the screencard or the Linux form isn't standard enough} and when you press DELETE button you can work with other Linux programs; press DELETE again to go back to work with G15 PMN in Fullscreen. {You can do some work with G15 PMN when it is in Frame not Fullscreen, but mouse is only communicating with the G15 PMN when it is in Fullscreen for various reasons that fit the typical 64-bit Linux best--which is okay as G15 PMN is using mouse moderately and because G15 PMN is by far most fitting to be used in fullscreen mode.} Press ALT-DELETE to create xo1.bmp, xo2.bmp and up as screen images {with width and height other than that which is expected as as Gem image, though} that can also be treated in associated freeware such as ./xoprint and ./xoprinti, and then converted eg to an extremely compact but equally precise .gif image. So, if you want a screen image you've made with ALT-DEL, which has perhaps bright green text on black background, to be inverted and turned into black on white, do: ./xoprinti xo1.bmp new1.bmp convert new1.bmp new1.gif And to view it in Linux, "eog" or "ristretto" or the like can often do: eog new1.gif FLAVOURS OF G15 PMN AS INCLUDED IN THIS PACKAGE: ./g15pmn the standard G15 PMN, where you type CAR to start up the main menu, CTR-W to activate mouse, and click with mouse on the arrow-up to start programs; quit by CTR-Q and type REB. ./g15rworks the same but option to activate Linux programs that do such as read and write to robot hardware, cfr genifun.com/openrobotics ./g15rstart same as g15rworks but autostarts program at f:1 without any initial keyboard or mouse input required ./g15rmenu same as g15rworks but auto opens menu at h:1 with the CTR-W mouse option already activated--so that the interactor uses mouse to start up any program at the menu, which very easily can be tailormade to fit a certain setup In addition, you get a ram-boosted version of these, for the occasion when that's absolutely necessary (normally it isn't). These have the same names but the prefix "ram..". And, as already said, you also have a "game mode" type of mouse handling if you add the suffix "..x" to the above. The mouse is, in the X flavours, handled in a more "gliding" way that can make a subtle but positive difference for some games with much mouse-use. WHAT ARE THE NAMES OF THE PROGRAMS WHEN YOu ADD THEM TO FAVOURITES? ABOVE, YOU TYPED G15 PMN FOR THE FIRST. THE NAME OF THE PROGRAM WHEN SEARCHED IS EXACTLY THE NAME OF THE PROGRAM AS TYPED ON COMMAND LINE. So, for instance, to get up the g15rmenu program type G15RMENU when you're about to add it to flavours, following the procedure above. {You have ready-made .desktop files for all these, too, as graphical icons to launch from the Linux desktop. If you rename the theg15ways folder to something else, simply edit the content of the tiny .desktop script to reflect this new foldername whereever it says theg15ways.} [[[Note: if in a later version of Linux the process with adding to 'Favourites' doesn't work, it can be that the last line in the .desktop file has to be edited. Search up the command "xprop WM_CLASS" in such as askubuntu.com and--at least in many linuxes --this program, by means of clicking over the icon on the desktop, can produce the correct text that should be in the last line of the .desktop files.]]] UNFREEZE YOURSELF: GOOD TO KNOW FOR PROGRAMMING DEVELOPMENT AND HANDLING OF UNRULY APPS In case there is a freezing of screen due to an untested program or something like that: first, I hope you saved what you were working on before that took place--G15 PMN in itself is very stable indeed. Then, click the "super"-key (with the windows-icon on it) on the keyboard and tabular or mouse to select the Terminal that opens in the background. In that Terminal, try CTR-Z, which should stop the program. Then, if a frame of G15 PMN remains, click the close-window icon as part of that frame, and confirm any question of 'Force quit', if it arises. Or, close the Terminal and that should also stop any process which it has started. {Also good to know that CTR-"super"-D minimalizes all windows so you get the plain desktop.} In the unusual case that this is outside of what the PC can do, there's usually another pathway in linux--except trying the power off button {which can be held down for many seconds if everything else has been tried first}--and that's to click CTR-ALT-F4 or CTR-ALT-F5 or CTR-ALT-F6 and, if it switches to another linux login screen by this, log in with your normal user name and password, and type shutdown -h now and it will power off fairly cleanly. =========================================== Not that much in a hurry? Great. So let's begin at the beginning and state what this is all about: Intro to all this: ==================================== This is ENTIRELY STANDARD G15 PMN WORKING WITH THE EMERGED GRAPHICAL STANDARD FOR 64-BIT LINUX DESKTOPS AND WITH NEW AUTOSTART FORMS FOR ROBOTS AND TAILOR-MADE SETUPS You also get, with this single .zip, both the standard application form of G15 PMN and those forms that are suitable to command robot hardware through Linux command line, as well as an extra-RAM-boosted form of G15 PMN for very particular applications requiring this. All these G15 PMN startup alternatives go straight to work, without the typical lineshift at the beginning that is standard in y6.zip. They also all assume that the screen capacity is no less than 1024 x 768 and so no numbers have got to be put into anything to start it. NOTE: ANY COMMON, TYPICAL LAPTOP OR PC WITH GRAPHICS CARD SHOWS SDL2 FULLSCREEN MODES WITH 1024x768 PERFECTLY CENTERED ON THE SCREEN. IF IT IS NOT CENTERED THIS PRODUCT CANNOT BE USED. {Until you get an upgraded graphical card or PC, you may want to use earlier Linux form from us, or a Microsoft Windows with some of the other G15 PMN packages, perhaps a 32-bit Linux or a 64-bit Linux with 32-bit enabled the way it is described in connection to some of the G15 PMN packages.} ALT-DEL does produce screen copies just as with the 32-bit y6all and as with the MsWindows G15ROBOT version. They also handle the switching by DEL button between Fullscreen mode and surrounding Linux programs. Mouse movement is only used in G15 PMN in Linux 64-bit w/Wayland when it is in fullscreen mode {but, to be very precise, clicks come through to the program even in that mode}. So, all this should work flawlessly in Linux 64-bit where, such as has become standard in Ubuntu, the graphical environment named 'wayland' rather replaces 'xorg', and where the background graphical library must be sdl2 rather than sdl1.2; and where--and please note this--the local user mode should be used when starting the graphics, where before the administrator (root) mode could be used to start also graphics. This is fitting with the 'wayland' approach, which is, by now--as we can say--the name of the emerged graphical background standard for GNU/Linux 64-bit Desktops. If it is not Wayland, then even if it has SDL2, it is far from sure that anything of this can start meaningfully. If you just want to get it running get up terminal in Ubuntu by ALT-CTR-T type (with internet up; but not necessary if you already have SDL 2 installed): sudo apt install libsdl2-2.0 and type in your password and confirm installation with the letter 'Y' {or, the very full form that I prefer, sudo apt install libsdl2-dev which has the sdl development files.} All in place? Then you can start any of the forms of G15 PMN; they all work on the same set of G15 PMN disks in the folder you starting it in. The classical form of G15 PMN is started e.g. by ./g15pmn inside the folder you created by unzipping theg15ways.zip. The most meaningful place to unzip this, so that you easily can start G15 PMN as a local user, is the /home/yourusername/ place, since you have write-permission automatically to all folders here. The g15pmn should start perfectly. Look in next paragraphs for alternative ways. {The slanted lines in the beginning you will see when the graphics is up are there on purpose, as a fast uplifting greeting.} In case the unzipped files have somehow been moved around and their permissions are gone type chmod 755 g15pmn to get Linux to accept it as performable program (similar with the other programs in the folder). These forms of G15 PMN all work with 64-bit Linux with Wayland. To use any of the robot oriented versions, see paragraph below in this text as to how to give your username extra rights as to access of robot servos in Linux {something necessary for G15 PMN roboapps when we run graphical applications in local user mode in Linux, see beneath for how to it}. *g15pmn Graphical, in fullscreen (for 64-bit Linux SDL2), is exactly as y6.zip's g15pvi (for 32-bit Linux SDL1.2), but with ALT-DEL added (as in 32-bit Linux y6all) to create xo1.bmp, xo2.bmp, xo3.bmp screencopies. The DEL button allows access to the rest of Linux, and allows G15 PMN programs to be run in the background. But, in contrast to how it is in 32-bit, the mouse pointer device can only be used when G15 PMN is in its preferred fullscreen mode. This feature--that Fullscreen is the mode of necessity to use mouse pointer--is shared in all the 64-bit Linux graphical flavours of G15 PMN in this package. But G15 PMN is rarely mouse intensive, and when it is much used in a particular G15 PMN application, then, for esthetical reasons, it ought to be fullscreen. There are technical reasons why this makes more sense with a 64-bit Wayland setup in any case, and we have chosen to put a premium on the fullscreen mode for the 64-bit, also because we want to emphasise that G15 PMN is its own system--its own operating system of a 32-bit kind with a dedicated monochrome fullscreen approach, and not just one of many programs running on an overgrown partly second- hand 64-bit platform. This ./g15pmn startup is the normal for programs where other parts of Linux aren't required *g15rworks Graphical, identical to "g15pmn" startup but with option to run all of Linux through commandline so suitable e.g. for robot handling; compatible with the 32-bit f3wx in the G15CONTROL package; starts without requiring a lineshift {in the latter aspect, it is as G15ROBOT for MsWindows, and as for keyboard handling the flavours in this package are practically identical with G15ROBOT and if there are any differences, what is in this package sets the standard for all future implementations of G15 PMN at any hardware}. *g15rstart Exactly as g15rworks but autostarts program at F1 and exits platform completely when this program exits *g15rmenu Exactly as g15rworks but autostarts menu at H1 with the CTR-W mouse enabled already, so that various robot programs (or such) can be selected; when the program or programs have done running, then CTR-Q will completely finish the G15 PMN session *ramg15rworks Exactly as g15rworks but with the RAM capacity expanded; the advise is to only use this when it is really necessary with that extra RAM, such as for heavy emulators, or G15 PMN FCM programs using vast sets of pattern matching databases simultaneously--it is however still 32-bit and in no way do we change anything whatsoever of G15 PMN total standard syntax to achieve this. Given that the PC has capacity, and that Linux is adequately generous to its applications of RAM, you can create 32-bit number arrays in these flavours of G15 PMN-- each one with the prefix "ram"--that are some times greater than the maximal possible size in the ordinary flavours. The good first-hand programmer, you will know how to treat such vast numberscapes with care--so that the 1st- hand relationship to data is maintained. These ram expanded forms of G15 PMN in this package provide even more ram than the G15RBOTX package for MsWindows. ramg15rstart Exactly as g15rstart but expanded RAM ramg15rmenu Exactly as g15rmenu but expanded RAM CONFIGURING ROBOAPPS TO INTERACT WITH ROBOHARDWARE ================================================ THE USE OF G15 PMN TO STEER ROBOTS VIA SUCH AS USB CABLES THROUGH WHICH RS232 PROTOCOL IS USED REQUIRES ACCESS TO WHAT LINUX CALLS SUCH AS /dev/ttyUSB0. THIS IS AUTOMATICALLY AVAILABLE FOR ROOT USER. HOWEVER IN 64-BIT LINUX THE ROOT USER METHOD MAY NOT BE THE ONE THAT WORKS WITH GRAPHICAL APPLICATIONS. SO, HERE'S HOW TO GAIN ACCESS TO THESE PORTS WHEN YOU START G15 PMN AS A LOCAL USER: Note that robot use typically requires access to such as /dev/ttyUSB0. This is something one automatically gets in administrator mode. A local user will get it by being added to the proper group. Here is how: ***GRAPHICAL METHOD Search up a program by means of the keywords USERS GROUPS eg in the Software Center and install if it isn't already installed. For instance, the relevant program may be "Users and Groups -- Gnome Users Administration Tool." This is the typical way it's done-- but there may be variations: Click on Manage Groups, find the group called "Dialout"--this is the typical name in Linux for anything to do with /dev/tty RS232 like ports due to its classical assocation with tone telephone modems. Click on Properties for Dialout, then select Members, and locate the relevant user name and click on its tickbox so the tickbox is checked. Then find the group called "tty", or something like that, and add the user to this group also. If you like, you can also select advanced settings for the user name and check that the user rights include access to modem. THEN EXIT THIS PROGRAM AND DO A FULL REBOOT OF THE PC TO GET THE EFFECTS TO TAKE PLACE. This should be all that's required to get full access to such as /dev/ttyUSB0, /dev/ttyUSB1, /dev/ttyUSB2 etc which again are used in connecting to such robot control electronics as eg the standard SSC32U card, into which PMW servo and H-bridge motor robot devices may be plugged. *** TEXTUAL METHOD Assuming that the names of these two groups are the right ones, this is the typical textual way to do what the program just mentioned can do: sudo adduser YOURUSERNAME dialout sudo adduser YOURUSERNAME tty Then, importantly, do a full reboot of the PC to get the changes into effect. [[[The converse is: sudo deluser YOURUSERNAME dialout sudo deluser YOURUSERNAME tty]]] BACKGROUND, AS TO GETTING G15 PMN TO 64-BIT LINUX G15 PMN is 32-bit oriented but it is something we also ensure that works on the most standard platforms, no matter what they are, as long as they are oriented towards full Personal Computers with mouse, large keyboard with function keys, and a display not smaller than 1024 x 768 and capable also of showing monochrome green. Ubuntu Linux (with 17.10) has decided to ditch 32-bit and to realized that the movement away from the old messy Xorg is right. So Wayland is the elegant emerging new standard, and we have made G15 PMN available for this. And it works really well!!! "NANO", A GOOD TERMINAL EDITOR TO KNOW ABOUT WHEN DOING STUFF THAT INVOLVES ADMINISTRATOR MODE IN A 64-BIT LINUX If you need more hints as how to operate Terminal in Linux, incl how to get file sizes etc, check out intro texts in the y6.zip folder with the 32-bit G15 PMN. We include these notes simply because we've earlier talked about using such as Gedit and to use Administrator (root) mode much, and for those who like that approach, this will smooth the transition to a 64-bit Linux with Wayland where Gedit doesn't usually start in Administrator mode. This is just by the way, since we don't need the Administrator mode much when you follow the instructions above. In Administrator mode--which you come to by the command sudo -i followed by your password--you can use the text editor nano, since it is Terminal oriented rather than graphically oriented. You go back to the local user mode by typing 'exit' in the same Terminal. Nano is simple and similar enough to be used with ease-- just start it with a command like nano filename.txt Here is all you need to know to use nano quickly: Click F2 and type y and press lineshift to save and exit. Or, click CTR-O to save file, followed by ENTER, right before F2 or CTR-X exit. When you need to delete a paragraph, or copy something, mark it by shift together with arrows, then use CTR-K. Paste it in by CTR-U. By using CTR-K CTR-U the text will be left in place, but it will also be ready for use of CTR-U somewhere else. Use CTR-W instead of CTR-F to find something in the text. When no text is marked, CTR-K will automatically cut the present text line. It is possible to copy from one Terminal to another, including into, or from, the nano editor, by using SHIFT-CTR-C after marking some text, and, mouse-clicking into another Terminal window, then clicking SHIFT-CTR-V. This allows copying also to and from command line. (However inside a single nano text window it is best to stick to CTR-K and CTR-U; these are separate text buffers.) When you go between a graphical application such as a browser, where CTR-C and CTR-V work, this can exchange text with the nano editor when you add the SHIFT there. To insert a text in the middle of the text you are working with, use CTR-R or INSERT and type filename and press ENTER. In case you hit CTR-Z the program exits but the command 'fg' will usually restore the session entirely, including the last edits--just tried it, without saving this text, in this very sentence, and it worked! In addition to all what has been said, you can use right-click on the mouse and the Copy and Paste commands in that also to copy between Nano sessions-- just place the text marker correctly before paste. BACKGROUND, GETTING SDL2 INSTALLED IN THE 64-BIT LINUX, AND CHECKING WHETHER YOU USE WAYLAND Before you start G15 PMN for a wayland Linux, you want to be sure you have SDL2.0 in it. G15 PMN uses SDL in order to put and fetch pixels to/from screen, to read X and Y motions from mouse, and input from keyboard--nothing else. Therefore SDL1.2 is more than good enough but only SDL2.0 and up are for Wayland so this G15 PMN for 64-bit Wayland Linux requires that SDL2 is installed. To be over-certain it is well installed, you might as well get the whole developer edition. That has a nice open source feel to it, in any case. SDL2 comes along with many applications that uses a package mechanism, but G15 PMN prides itself on being so simple to install that a .zip is enough; however then one has got to look to just this one library manually. TO INSTALL SDL2 IN A LINUX WITH THE WAYLAND GRAPHICS The SDL2 library [at libsdl.org] is a very free open source package that is widely used and with a generous license associated with it. The G15 PMN flavours in theg15ways.zip requires SDL2 and also requires Linux 64-bit Wayland. To repeat the above: THE SUPER-SURE WAY TO ESTABLISH WHETHER WAYLAND IS THAT WHICH A LINUX PC IS RUNNING NOW: First, is the Linux a Wayland linux? In a local user Terminal, type env | grep -i wayland and if some text comes up then, Wayland Linux does seem to be what is running. Note again that this command only makes full sense if you type it inside the Local user mode, which is the standard mode that the program Terminal starts when you start it from some typical menu, e.g. by searching for Applications, or, maybe ALT-CTR-T does work to bring it up. Then, go into Administrator mode: sudo -i and type password. Be sure to leave the Administrator mode when done with a series of actions to keep the PC more safe. You leave it by the command 'exit'. Type apt install libsdl2-dev In case the Linux is up-to-date and complete enough and the Internet line is working and fast enough to allow some hundreds of megabytes of load, the Terminal will either tell that it is already installed, or ask a Y/n question about install, to which you can answer Y and press ENTER. After a while it is installed. If you type the command once more, it will say so. ================================== FOOTNOTES for g15 pmn beginners, enthusiasts & experts Footnote 1. HOW THE BRAIN IS STIMULATED IN G15 PMN G15 PMN takes the approach that, up to a certain point, when it comes to intellectual stimulation, 'less is more'--for the brain, the mind, the soul of the interactor with the computer self-activate when there is the sense that the computer is somewhat passive and not overwhelming the senses in any ways. This is from the first bit to the last a question of making computers in a way that is friendly to human beings and not in any way whatsoever leading to digital addictions. Then, with G15 PMN we take the approach that the nurturing of pure concepts during programming is healthy for the mind in the sense that a study, say, of classical boolean logic or elements of trigonometry can sharpen and enliven. These pure concepts must mean that the programs aren't always super-flexible but that they are somewhat stolidly doing their thing in a transparent way, with a consistent response, not varying according to what an uneducated person might think of as the 'mood' of the machine. The machine is experienced as a machine, consistent in how it works; stupid in a fixed way, and smart only in a transparent way. As part of the nurturing of pure concepts, we have taken to heart the approach that it is natural and stimulating for the human mind to experience the pure forms of life as part of the thinking processes so as to construct new graphics, new texts, new programs, or other such things with the help of a computer. These pure forms of life, then, are more readily shown by means of monochrome green than such as monochrome black-and-white, and green is chosen because numerous studies have shown that green is not upsetting the brain cycles for day-waking and sleep the way eg blue stimulation does; bright green is the most relaxing and easy to pick up; bright green tends to emphasize health and wholeness also for photos of human faces whereas black-and-white or other monochrome alternatives such as red-and-black tends to easily suggest interpretations along unhealthy lines. Finally, the approach of G15 PMN is that stability in the underlaying platform is necessary so that the human interactor, using the platform over the years, can experience growth of own insight and skill rather than being at the mercy of whatever updates are about to be released. For these latest reasons, also, we have worked to anticipate a sense of how computing will be when there is a greater emphasis on what we call the RealLine mode, rather than the OnLine mode--where such as internet doesn't have nearly the equal importance--in other words, how the PC ought to be when one has it by oneself and it is supposed to be rather a full experience without requiring constant additions from the outside world. And in such a case, we felt, we would want to follow up the esthetics along the lines of the logic and conceptual purity with aptly enlivening images in a core library that we haven't changed since G15 PMN was fully complete as platform {G15 CPU programs were beginning to work in 2012 and the G15 PMN platform was rather complete the following year and after May 2015 has not have one bit in its core changed at all--rather then the work has gone totally into apps including Third Foundation and the apps building on the G15 PMN Third Foundation}. Some of these images are quite unlike the rather nerdian or commercial culture that has permeated some of the designers in the present operating system world. But they are selected on the premise, as are the example bits of games and fiction and such included, to be a library of also a bit of wildness, the purity of concepts spiced up with a bit of that which is on the side just enough for the creativity to have the tantric meditative feeling of wholeness. We are encouraging you to appreciate this wholeness when you bundle G15 PMN into performing a certain duty for someone, somewhere, but we are not requiring you to include all these elements. You can be sure, however, that they are all included with the best ethical and legal intents, and with the esthetical competence associated also with years of painting, fiction writing and philosophical writing. Footnote 2. KEYBOARD & CAR EDITOR AND MORE: QUICKKEYS The setup is US English standard ascii keyboard with F1 to F12 and PgUp and Home key and so on. The Numlock key can be used to switch between numbers and such in the numeric pad, and PgUp and and arrows and such. SHIFT undoes the NumLock on state as long as SHIFT is held in. We follow the approach of many MsWindows US English keyboards in having the extra key to the left of Z as given to \ and | rather than to < and >, for the simple reason that < and > are very easily available in their normal position, as SHIFT-COMMA and SHIFT-DOT, and because the \ and | are characters that may have a role in unusual font-setups where the button to the left of Z may suddenly provide easy access to these unusual fonts. We regard it as a cross-cultural thing to use computers with the US English keyboard, that has proven, over many decades, to serve as foundation for vast contact between people from all regions of the world; overdone ethnicity implemented at the hardware level of keyboards and so on only has as effect to discourage cross-cultural learning and G15 as computer approach sticks to this keyboard, no matter what font approach is used on the screen. As you surely already know, the G15 PMN keyboard is dedicated to a smiling worldview. That's why there is no delete button on it--as it is logically conceived--and the peculiar presence on this button in some personal computers is therefore taken, by deduction, to mean that there is a surrounding or --as we like to say it--underlaying environment that is different from G15 PMN; hence, the delete button calls on this environment and let you do things. The ripe approach in 64-bit Linuxes and onwards is that the mouse cannot be used to steer things within G15 PMN when this button has been pressed until it is pressed again and the natural fullscreen mode of G15 PMN is back. ALT-DEL creates xo1.bmp, xo2.bmp, xo3.bmp. To make black'n'white or white'n'black try, in a Terminal, such as bnw and bnwi; then a typical linux command like 'convert xo1.bmp xo1.gif' is suitable to make gif's of these. You already know that CTR-Q quits the main menu and the socalled CAR editor so that you get back to where, amongst other things, MNT {to mount G15 apps} and REB {to reboot, that is to say, to exit G15 PMN temporarily} can be typed. The lineshift should be pressed whenever you are in doubt what to type--it is very often called for--eg after typing CAR you press it several times to get on. You already know--we assume, because you have spent hours and hours with all the hundreds of documentation pages in the various forms of G15 PMN.. :-) that the G15 PC keyboard proper really has no caps lock so SHIFT-TABL {and other modifier keys together with TABL, ie, tabulator} serves as a caps lock key. But then, since caps lock usually is provided in other computer platforms, the normal caps lock applies AS WELL. If you can't get the caps lock off, then first turn the led-driven caps lock off, then try SHIFT-TABL. You already know that CTR-R centers the textmarker in the edit mode in the socalled CAR editor--the big bright font area with the menues. You already know that CTR-W activates mouse so you can click on what is pointed to by the up-arrow between the disk-letter and the card-number, eg, after B9edit editor, there is C/599 written. The / is in G15 a sort of flower or twig or up-arrow and it takes the place of the over-used and ill-designed and illogical percentage symbol in the 7-bit standard Ascii as we see it. To make it, use SHIFT-5. Click on this arrow in the Menu mode {ie, after CTR-W}, to start any program. You can TYPE IN THAT TYPE OF STUFF IN ANY CARD to start any program. Use a colon instead to open any card for editing or viewing. That is the superb ease of the gui that we designed with G15 PMN. Press Right-Click on mouse to undo the action of Ctr-W, in other words to go from Menu mode to Edit mode when in the Car editor. You need to be in menu mode to click on colons, eg between d and 10 as in d:10 {which is an utility menu on the main g:15 card}, and to click on the arrow as well, to start up these programs. When in the edit mode, you can edit cards-- just type on them--and save and such--and you can also have a look at a brief but complete overview over the essential Yoga6dorg G15 assembly instructions, underlaying the G15 PMN, and which are used in a sort of 'just-in-time' fashion whenever you compile PMN in G15 to then start up an application. Click CTR-S to save or CTR-L to load--you must type in the card letter plus card number, a combination that is called "card-id", like i15, each time, because we want to emphasize relation- ship to numbers. Click CTR-C to copy a range of cards and CTR-T followed by space to insert them. By experimenting with these two, you'll find that you can edit as large programs or texts or databases as you like (you have over two million cards availabe on each disk) by copying an extra large number of cards and going some cards to the left or right, by means of PgUp and PgDn. Home key brings you back to the G:15 card. When doing editing in Car editor, tabulator key removes a bunch characters. Arrows and End and such moves around. In B9Edit, there are handy quick-keys, listed in the g69 document. These include such as: ctr-arrowdown to remove a line, insert to insert a character, alt-home to go to beginning and do a search, alt-end to go to the completion. You will be delighted to know that the B9edit is minimal enough to never clutter your writing process with any unnecessary information at any point and your hands, when they know the keyboard, don't have to move from the keyboard over to the mouse at any point--because it is a typewriter like process that we sought here, so we didn't do anything whatsoever by means of mouse in the B9edit. And it respects your lineshifts, so that you have to end each line by clicking enter and it never does any wordwrap because wordwrapping removes the soul-characteristic of the lines with your own lineshifts. If you want wordwrap, make it yourself. It's all G15 PMN. Click F1 to exit B9edit, F12 to exit Gem, and other programs can have other exit ways. When you make new programs, feel free to use such as ALT and CTR also in combination with function keys but have respect for the possible environments in which the G15 PMN program is performed in--that some of these, such as Linux, may want to use ALT-CTR together with this and that function key for its own purposes. And, finally, you already know that the Third Foundation app, app# 3,333,333, offers you a superb way to look up any definition of any standard predefined, PD, word (of two letters), and also any word of three letters or more written in PMN proper. Just start up the Third Foundation (TF) terminal, typically apps put it to F/1, and type scan and then you can type eg aw: {put a blank before the first letter whenever you search up a predefined word} then specify range f1 2222 that is to say, 2222 cards up from card f1. As it locates this predefined word to scan Arrays Within range, type car and press space to see more cards, then q to quit listing them. To view the definition eg inside TF of a word like scan, type scan then type in scan= f1 3333 that is to say, start at card f1 but go for more than 3000 cards up, not just 2000, because the Third Foundation goes all the way up to f2411 {and higher if the TF has been expanded the way eg roboapps expands it}. As it locates the definition of the higher-level function, type car and press space to see its cards then q when you have seen enough. Type qu and press enter to exit the TF terminal and return to the CAR editor. Footnote 3. GRANULARITY OF BRIGHT GREEN IN SDL As a G15 PMN programmer, you are probably aware that such as GEM images, which is eminently beautiful also when used for photographs of human beings and nature, stick to the approach of 64 tones spread over the range 0..255 as 'green intensity numbers'. 64 tones provide smooth transitions. In the G15 docs, here and there, it is stated that this range is in fact all that is used no matter which pixel-write method is employed. While this is correct to assume in general, and this is the approach taken for tailor-made applications in the future, the abnormally observant perfectionist may have noted that in the Linux versions with SDL1.2 and with SDL2 there are 256 tone ranges for some pixel-write method. We have done this because it is faster to simply output this than to right-shift then left-shift just to shave away the extra two bits and because it is practically undetectable in by far most circumstances. But the perfectionist programmer may want to know that 64 tones is what we are going to go for generally, when the Intraplates form of electronics arrives with the Avenuege G15 PC with Avenuege robots, and apps should be made with this orientation. Footnote 4. HOW ROBOTIC CAMERA INPUT CAN HANDLE COLORS The esthetical and enforce-first-hand-meaningful-limits- on-computers approach has led us to monochrome green. In the case of robots, obviously there are cases in which distinction between more colors incl tones blending with such as blue, yellow and red is relevant. This can be arranged eg as follows: assuming that there is a color camera attached to the PC, as part of the script reading from a camera, extract such as C, M, Y, K or R, G, B color aspects by means of the conversion program used on the pathway to .bmp for GEM input. Produce by this four or three .bmp the corresponding quantity of GEM images and do pattern matching over their combined lot by means of a suitable normal G15 PMN function in the roboapp. In other words, ANY sensory modality of any kind for which one can make a measuring device can, obviously, be inputted to, and analyzed, by a program, and more colors than the green tone range is just one example. Footnote 5. RS232 AND THE G15 PMN STANDARD MENUES You may have noticed that the G15 PMN menues, in one of the utility menues you can navigate to by means of clicking through the main menu at card G:15, includes a card dedicated to RS232 examples. RS232, despite its technical-sounding names, is eminently simply to create in terms of what is required at the level of electronics. Therefore, it is an important type of standard, an important type of protocol. In the Firth, Dos version of G15 PMN, when run directly on classical PC hardware, this card does indeed interact with the physical RS232 ports. In the Avenuege G15 PC {in planning}, there will, amongst other fancy stuff, also be RS232 ports--physically, not just as an emulation--and indeed this G15 PMN menu card applies to that hardware as well. When G15 PMN is run on top of other types of platforms, the G15 RS232 commands aren't doing anything. In Linux, the access is most efficiently carried out via text commands sent to the command line and the roboapps, when tailor-made to interact with Linux, does it this way, and, as genifun.com/openrobotics shows, very successfully so. Footnote 6. USE OF TEXT TERMINAL STARTUP While G15 PMN is in its own world and is supposed to run all sorts of programs, and allow editing of them, and re-running of them, it also advices frequent use of REB during program. In addition, G15 PMN can output info--in its prospective own hardware, on a small sidescreen called 'robotic display'--there is a special "G15 CPU" instruction for this (with no name, only a number, 47). G15 PMN has hardly any startup configuration to do during startups, and so it can start very rapidly each time. When a programmer uses another platform like gnu/linux around or under it, then the textual output that otherwise would have been oriented towards that 'robotic sidedisplay' comes out on the text terminal, and easily seen during or after G15 PMN performance on the text terminal. By checking that there are no messages on this text terminal, you get an extra check, beyond checking the state of the stack and seeing that the programs works fast and as it should, that you have programmed correctly. That's why it's a great idea to use a startup like ./g15pmn to start up in a text terminal during intense programming of apps (the word 'app', by the way, in G15 PMN contexts, is merely an abbreviation for 'application', in other words, a program); and after CTR-Q and REB to quit G15 PMN the normal linux terminal allows arrow-up to get earlier text commands back, as you probably know. In addition, when a program tries to access a meaningless RAM address, the PC will usually report, on the Terminal line, something about 'segment fault'; and the careful programmer adds things step by step so it is easy to see where this thing arose and then it is fixed, in the normal process of program correction, as the final phase of completing a good program. Footnote 7. MINIMUM SET OF FILES TO START G15 PMN G15 PMN is a truly open programming language and its core is free to be used by anyone. However we do want those who set G15 PMN to be used as part of an application bundle to acknowledge this fact clearly during startup. Apart from that, you can use them as you like, as long as it is legal and ethical enough. A folder that only contains that which you need to run a particular app should have: g15pmn g15pmn.desktop 015icon.jpg {or whatever command or command set with .sh you use to start the flavour of G15 PMN sought; usually, for the flavours in this package} And these datafiles--which appear as logical disks-- these do not have any part of them that are absolutely reserved for the system {system disks are adisk and bdisk and in Linux these are internalized in the program file}. So you are free to set these up as you like it, just be sure that the programs you do in fact include have the data areas they usually expect intact--and each program will usually tell in the beginning, eg as a comment, which data areas are expected: cdisk.g15 ddisk.g15 edisk.g15 fdisk.g15 gdisk.g15 hdisk.g15 idisk.g15 jdisk.g15 kdisk.g15 ldisk.g15 as well as {not necessary if there is no image import or export}: palette.dat xopalete.dat bmpgreen.dat muscle.bmp black.bmp xoprint xoprinti .dat's are used in GEM image export, screen image making, and in the treatment of images that such as xoprint and xoprinti are doing; black.bmp is suitable when Gimp copies an image and pastes on top of this 500x500 to save {without color space info stored in 'Settings' during export} to create an importable .bmp of exact the same bytesize}. As for image import/export, there are some 64-bit freeware bits that can do additional conversion in the folder. Footnote 8. PETITE POINTS OF GLORY FOR G15 PMN PERFECTIONISTS * As you perhaps already know, when calling an external program from G15 PMN, eg for some hardware for robotic input or output, there is a pause, small or not so small, in G15 PMN performance; any G15 PMN function that somehow is very dependent on timing should be checked as to the effects of these pauses on that; see also the next note * The approach taken in all flavours in this package is that when 'empty keybuffer' is called, this really should empties the buffer of everything that is pressed; however in some of the 32-bit versions, the emptying takes place in a way that only focusses on the internal G15 PMN buffering rather than the external buffering by the surrounding operating platform. As a result, the emptying of keybuffer may not be total in these earlier verions when combined with a call to an external program. * Whatever there is of tiny workarounds in the standard G15 PMN these are listed and, if need be, dealt with by apps, on the app page for G15 PMN, of which the main page is norskesites.org/fic3/fic3inf3.htm. The minute things are easily dealt with. Third Foundation app manual also has some info on some workarounds, cfr the 'new number' called UNDEFINED there. The Anaiis manga inspired cartoonish story is showing its text properly, ie, without the clipping of the left side of the text, in its more complete app version {the first version of it was made using a flavour in in which no clipping takes place even though the lines are too long and filled up with spaces--but in the app version, the function 'cliptext' exists, and is used.} Anyway, the story is for specially interested... * Yes, you can rename and copy back and forth the .g15 disk files, just do it when you have quit the session using these. * Your secret key can be the "5" of the Numeric pad when the Numlock is off. You can work out what the keycode is for it yourself, and put it to use in a program {don't count on such codes on the side of the mainstream keys to work in the earliest flavours of G15 PMN, but what is here in these flavours is a setting of a standard}. * As may not have been pointed out, the command to empty keybuffer {G15 assembly calls this EK} also temporarily empties the 'mousebuffer', ie, any check on whether the mouse is pressed as the first thing after EK is called will result in 'no press', no matter whether it is pressed or not. * Most flavours of G15 PMN {except some of the earliest made, which has some extra keycodes for numeric keypad}, and as intent as a standard, provides the same key codes, when the predefined word in G15 PMN Third Foundation "KI" is used, when PgUp and such is typed at the main part of the keyboard and when PgUp and such is typed at the numeric keypad, when the NumLock isn't on. In other words, the numeric keypad is given entirely standard codes--the enter key is the same as the main enter key, and so on. And so this should be how it is programmed. However, if you wish to distinguish the keys, you can use the predefined word KF, or associted G15 assembly codes, to get a particular set of keycodes for the numeric pad keys. This may however have some slight differences between the platforms. * As some of the G15 PMN docs point out, of CTR-key combined with a letter, prefer to use B..Z as the CTR-A may give different results on different platforms unless you look at it carefully. * The apps show you how you can expand fonts as much as you please, to any kind you like. Before you go for this, though, may we give a bit of good press for the approach of using rbotfont and b9font, the two inbuilt fonts in the G15 core? First of all, when it comes to certain technical thinking tasks, the robotfont or rbotfont uses just a few pixels, and with those few pixels it manages to display everything of 7-bit ascii with a fantastic contrast between the letters, and between the digits, and between digits and letters, and to do so in a way that is generally uplifting--pointing up--and, while doing all this, it also encourages a sense of the arrythmic. Ie, it contributes to numerous holistic aspects of the consciousness flow, not dragging the mind into a mesmerized half-dream,--it turns the autopilot off and does it by the force. And it is fast. And, what's more, when you work with the CAR editor to make G15 PMN program cards, the very shape of just those letters when in big black on bright green inspired just those very command structures of the language. It has a dot to indicate uppercase and so uppercase and lowercase is united in this led-display friendly font. Turn attention now to b9font. When you bring it up, you bring up a vast contrast to robotfont. Where robotfont comes fast, b9font takes a little time, at least when it is much on the page--for a big matrix is used even though few bits of it may be used for a character. That gives it a different timing feeling--and provides something almost sensual and humane to the font. It is arrythmic, but musical sensitive where rbotfont is fascinatingly crude. Its digits are in italic, rather,--setting the digits apart from the letters, and that is a philosophical point that goes all the way into thinking about the formation of the number concept and how finite numbers only makes sense in some contexts whereas letters have an altogether different role. The letters are almost handwritten but still strict enough so that, when you get used to them, you find that every character is just that--a character, of its own. Now pay attention to how the eye handles such as impressionistic paintings: they are painted using just some 'fonts' in the sense of paintstrokes,-- and just that gives calm and order and harmony-- whereas if some parts of the painting has great detail and other parts have crude paintstrokes it gets broken up and no longer gives that peace of mind to the observer. If you look up the roots of the word 'tacky', then it suggests a lack of wholeness. So when digital frames are put on top of each other and they have many fonts, it doesn't exude wholeness, and so that is 'tacky'. Limit it a lot, and you get MORE, not less. The tackiness vanishes as you almost violently limit the fonts. So given that limitation, and the other conscious limitations in the G15 approach to computing as well, you unleash your mind, you can have a sense of wholeness. * Other points: the use of predefined words such as KI {the typical way to get character input in G15 PMN in that KK and KF is combined in a good way}, is so that for normal ascii visible character input, the KK, as well as KI, provides just this result; while for any function key input, KF, as well as KI, provides just this result; and when both can be expected, KI is the chosen predefined word. If you type a visible character and use KF then the result may be subtle different between platforms. The emerged approach is this: KF gives 1 for a plain visible character without any key like SHIFT applied; but in case SHIFT is applied, it would be the combination code of SHIFT with the unshifted character, eg 100100 for SHIFT as another example, it would be 1 when the key that has dot and greater-than character on it, but 10046 when shift and that button is clicked, 46 being the central dot. The one chief exception is the button the left of Z, which has different uses in some US English platforms--sometimes for \ and | and other times for < and >. Here, the KF returns 60 (for <) while KK returns 92 (for \) while shift with this key gives, predictably, 10060 for KF while KK gives 124 for the | bar. KI, however, gives what the keyboard layout of G15 is, consistently, namely 92 and 124. Generally, the chief approach is to use KI or to only use information from KF {or its G15 assembly equivalent} when KK {or its G15 assembly equivalent} doesn't provide it. Look up the definition of KI in the Third Foundation {use the scan function, scan for " ki:" at card f1, range 2222 cards or so}, if you want to see how this cross-flavour pd word is made. This completes the 015setup.txt inside theg15ways.zip. G*O*O*D***L*U*C*K =*=